From Bad to Worse
by Helo34
Summary: The USS Tientsin and her crew are sent to investigate rumors of black market weapons near Romulan space and must race to uncover a conspiracy when one of their officers goes missing. Rated M for blood/violence. A Canton adventure set in the Star Trek Online universe.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: I haven't written in a while so apologies in advance. I have not tried telling a story through journal entries before so please let me know what you think. Hopefully this is the first of several adventures for this crew._

 **Unknown**

Lieutenant Evelyn Savea woke up groggy and sore, with no idea what happened. Squinting at the bright lights she looked around to figure out where she was. It looked like she was in an infirmary, and she was strapped down on a table, but the room looked different than the med bay on her ship. The equipment looks different too she thought with some concern. Testing the metal restraints around her wrists she was able to squirm a little but was unable to move more than that. Evelyn wiggled her toes and rotated her feet. At least my head and feet are free. A wave of dizziness hit her and she blacked out again.

 **USS Tientsin, orbiting Nimbus 3**

" _Captain's Log, Stardate 86046.21. LT Savea has been missing for forty-eight hours now. A week ago we were pulled off of a scheduled deployment to Kobali Prime because Intel believed there to be theron weapons in or around the Nimbus system. Since we had assisted with another weapons case in the past and were 'nearby' we got the job. I think the crew was relieved since the whole Vaduaar siege is a mess, but personally I was annoyed at being diverted. At least we got to keep a commando that transferred over the day before. Black market weapons assignments are usually high risk for the crew, although I suppose this is a new one. Savea disappeared off the street, in broad daylight, while coordinating the deployment of ships's crew for a show of force operation. The residents of the town there… I hesitate to call it Paradise like the sign says… but the residents of Paradise had been intimidated by a pirate gang for long enough that we were unable to get any information from anyone about anything. I was expecting my people to have more than a few bottles and bricks thrown at them, along with a few firefights with the pirates. I still have no idea how someone grabbed my officer and got her out of our perimeter, especially since she is the head of Tactical for the ship. And the pirates have been suspiciously quiet since then._

 _While I'm loathe to risk the crew in further confrontation I want my officer back! We stand a better chance of raiding their compound with the commando we were lent. I don't know what her story is, but if her service record is to be believed she was stuck in some of the worst fighting spots the Federation has seen in the past decade or so. Very quiet though, which creeps most of us out. It doesn't help that she looks like a giant walking burnt skeleton with thin wisps of black hair trailing behind her like smoke, and she has the density of thermocrete. Two of my crewmen went to the infirmary after breaking their hands sparring with her and she barely noticed their strikes. I have never met a species like her and her personnel file is no help, of course. Her species and home planet are 'classified', which I'm pretty sure means Intel doesn't know. Must be nice to classify what you don't know."_


	2. Chapter 2

**USS Tientsin**

" _Captain's Log, Stardate 86048.61. The pirate base was surprisingly easy to find. The town of Paradise is flanked on one side by a deep canyon, reportedly full of Gorn rebels, and some low hills on the other. Crashed in the middle of that range is the remains of a frigate-sized ship and a series of defensive walls around it. We fought our way to the top of the hills and into a small prison area, which explains why the town was so afraid of these people. Some of the prisoners were held for debts, others for ransom. Either way no-one wanted to risk ending up there by being polite to us. After several vicious gunfights further up the hill, and more than a little property damage thanks to Shade's excellent mortar fire, we breached the main gates and entered the base… erm, ship… itself. Apparently the head di…pirate panicked at the explosions and offered an [expletive deleted] amount of latinum to anyone that stopped us. Well, being a base full of drunk pirates and mercenaries that kicked off a running brawl within the base. Ship. Whatever. Anyways, imagine our surprise when we busted in there and they were drunkenly trying to kill each other instead of us [Captain Ostorga chuckles]. Shade, the commando we borrowed, was amazing. She single handedly bowled over, knocked out, and stunned most of the denizens of the bar they had set up. My team pretty much stayed out of her way and secured the hallways she passed. We missed the pirate leader…I refuse to call him King… but secured his office, including personal console, without trouble. The Tientsin had to do some 'horse trading' to get several mercs in orbit to help chase down the pirate leader and remand him into our custody. Being captain has it's moments, but I bet Command won't be too happy about some of the deals we made [Ostorga laughs nervously]."_

 **Unknown**

Savela woke up to the sound of gasping and retching but was mildly surprised that it wasn't coming from her. "Hello?" she called out while trying to peer through the darkness. She heard a muffled "I'm fine, thanks for asking" from a female voice in return. Hoping for more info Evelyn pressed on: "You don't sound like it". The room was quiet for a moment , then she heard spitting. "Just peachy". "Where are we? And what happened to you?". Another spit, then "Figure it out." Evelyn sighed and got comfortable. _Might as well rest if I'm stuck on this blasted table_ she groused.


	3. Chapter 3

**Nimbus III**

 **2.4 Km Northwest of Paradise**

" _Captain's Log, Stardate 86049.95. Further interrogation of the so-called 'Pirate King' finally yielded results. He knew of a Tal'Shiar facility hidden on the planet, but the only approach he knows of is through the Gorn infested canyon outside town. It's a little sad that they don't know – or don't care – that the rest of their people are close allies of the Klingon Empire. Either way, they weren't happy to see us. Once again, Shade and her portable mortar came in handy by clearing the high ground so that we weren't at a terrible disadvantage. Though there were certainly enough Gorn in there to cause us serious issues. [Ostorga sighs] More of our crew were injured in that canyon than I had hoped, though I am hopeful that they will make a full recovery. After hacking a few old consoles and climbing out we reached the communications towers that the Romulans were hiding under. At this point I don't think it's prudent to risk more of my crew so I am only taking a small team with heavy gear inside. It is now 0915; We will be entering the towers soon. I hope it will be worth it."_

 **Unknown**

Evelyn woke with a start and stared at the Romulan woman standing over her. She was hunched over Evelyn's table more than she expected from an average height person and had long black hair bound behind her head in a pony tail. But her most striking features were red eyes and a sickly looking skin tone. "Good, you're awake" the woman said, smiling.

Evelyn looked down and checked that her restraints were still on. "How…"

The woman interrupted her "Crappy restraints. Can you hear that?" She asked with another smile. Evelyn shook her head, not hearing anything. The woman closed her eyes and frowned like she was concentrating hard. "Explosions. And… plasma." She opened her eyes. "Someone's attacking; now's our chance to break out". At this point Evelyn was staring at the other woman in disbelief, not sure what to think. The woman reached across the table and hit the restraint release, freeing Evelyn. She stood up quickly and massaged some feeling back into her wrists. Evelyn looked around for something to use as a weapon until she felt the other woman's arm brush her shoulder. "I'm Liha, by the way" the Romulan said as she handed Evelyn a laser scalpel.

She nodded and took it. "Lieutenant Evelyn Savea, Starfleet" Liha rolled her eyes and motioned for Evelyn to stand with her near the door. Liha smashed the keypad beside the locked door, pulled out some wires, and started humming while she crossed them with others. She would occasionally twitch and interrupt her humming, then go back to work a moment later. Evelyn quickly lost track of how many times Liha got shocked working on the door.

An eternity later Liha got the door open and turned to Evelyn with a satisfied grin. Evelyn gripped her scalpel harder and rushed at the Tal'Shiar standing in the hallway. Liha saw the look on Evelyn's face, and turned quicker than the lieutenant had ever seen a Romulan react. Right after that Evelyn tackled the closest Romulan and grappled with him down to the deck. His eyes went wide and he dropped the plasma pistol he'd been holding in favor of keeping the laser scalpel away from his face.

After a while of rolling around on the deck Evelyn managed to stab her opponent, grab his pistol, and safe the scalpel for storage in her pants pocket. Only then did she look to see how Liha was fairing, though she immediately wished she hadn't. The other Tal'Shiar that had been in the hallway was now covered in blood, as was Liha, who still looked deathly ill but was now moving more energetically. Evelyn felt immediately sick and had to sit down for a moment, trying not to look at the dead Romulans for fear of being sick again. For the second time that day Evelyn had Liha hovering over her and blocking her vision. Maybe it helped to see a friendly-ish face but Evelyn started to feel better. She spit in the corner and got back up, giving the bodies some space as she followed Liha down the corridor.


	4. Chapter 4

**USS Tientsin**

 _"Captain's Log, Stardate 86054.1. What we fond was… terrible. Atrocious even. I'm not really sure what to call it. The Tal'Shiar were doing experiments on a variety of species, which is concerning enough without also recovering several pieces of Borg technology and Romulan prototype equipment based on that technology. In addition to a prisoner transport for all the pirates and mercs we're holding now I need to call for a containment team [Ostorga sighs]. I'm not sure what we tripped over but it's a real mess now. I guess our part of it all is over now: we recovered Lieutenant Savea in one of the lower levels, along with a Romulan prisoner who refused medical evaluation despite looking like she would fall into a coma at any moment. I had our transporter log sent over to medical for evaluation; hopefully Lt. Kwon can make sense of the scans."_

" _Captain's Log, Stardate 86056.7. There is a Federation ship in orbit far too soon for my reports to have made it to Command, much less for new orders to be made. An Avenger class cruiser, the USS Canton, arrived an hour ago and mysteriously has an empty brig, full interrogation team, and several MACO squads aboard. My officers and I have also discovered that all personal logs and incident reports concerning our…guest have been encrypted and locked. Interestingly, so have our transporter logs for that day. Any crew we had still on the planet were replaced by members of the new ship and confined to their quarters. The Tientsin is now operating on a skeleton engineering crew, with a bridge crew of me. [Ostorga sighs] I'm probably being too harsh. Since the ship's complement is small to begin with having a bridge crew of one with only occasional responsibilities isn't actually that bad. Just makes for boring shifts. [door swishes open, then closed] I thought I left instructions not to be disturbed. [New voice] Unfortunately I'm not in your chain of command."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Ready Room attached to the bridge of the USS Tientsin**

Captain Ostorga looked up at her visitor for the first time and cleared her throat. "Sorry Commander. What can I do for you?"

The Trill woman in front of Ostorga had brown hair and wore a Starfleet uniform with yellow trim and Commander's bars. Her insignia did look a bit odd, though. She gestured towards the chair sitting in front of the Captain's desk "May I?" She nodded and pushed her PADD away. The Trill sat across from Ostorga and pulled a device out of her pocket, thumbing a switch before placing it on the desk between them. "This is Commander Isra Malak, Starfleet Intelligence. With me is Captain Michelle Ostorga of the USS Tientsin. It is 2339 ship time and we are in the Ready Room on board the Tientsin, currently in orbit around Nimbus 3. This conversation is being recorded, as are any messages sent from your PADD. Do you understand Captain?" Michelle's eyes widened at the first part and her mind raced to figure out what was going on. She nodded her agreement and took a deep breath.

Collecting her thoughts Michelle asked "Where… How did you know to come here Ma'am?"

Isra smiled and shook her head. "I'll let you figure that one out. I have already spoken to your officers about this, but everything that happened on Nimbus is classified. You are not to speak of it to anyone that wasn't there, including your superiors. As far as Command is concerned, you found nothing of interest here and Savea never went missing. I will take the heat for pulling you off the line for a wild goose chase and you have my sincerest apologies for getting you dragged into this mess. And in case you were wondering, yes I apologized personally to Lieutenant Savea."

Michelle leaned back and crossed her arms, not happy about being left out of the loop. Isra pretended not to notice. "The Romulan you found was injected with experimental nanotechnology developed by the Tal'Shiar from the Borg tech you recovered. Her status is…complicated, but we'll say she's seeking asylum. Of course, since her torture never happened" Isra made air quotes at that last part, "it would be hard to approve her petition. Unless, of course, a certain Captain were willing to sponsor her onto their crew." Michelle was positively fuming now. Isra held up a hand to hold of her response. The paperwork will all be taken care of, and I think she would be valuable in the days to come."

Michelle practically exploded with anger. "Do you have any idea what she did to that guard? And she enjoyed it! I cannot believe the nerve of you warmongers. Starfleet is supposed to be an organization of peace, exploration, and of science. She is a cold blooded killer and has no place on my ship!"

Isra grinned. "You know, I've been read in on your unique circumstances." Michelle scowled at the dig. "And that philosophy has served you well up to now. But the universe is much bigger, and much darker, than we tell cadets at the Academy. There will be times that you have to kill or be killed, and having Liha around will help you. She prefers Sienae, by the way. Do you know why?"

Michelle shook her head, "No, I don't."

Isra nodded. "It's Rihannsu for Talon." Michelle turned a little green and looked away. "You should talk to her; I think you will be surprised at what you have in common. The difference is that she never wants to be helpless on a Tal'Shiar table again, something your Lieutenant understands. Plus, it's not like you will have to deal with her alone. Shade wants to help her adjust, if you'll allow it. They… seem to have bonded." Isra shrugged and waited for Michelle to process it all.

Michelle sighed, then put her head in her hands. "I… don't know what to do. Earlier this year I was still in the Academy looking forward to my first cruise. Then the Klingons attacked and… well, you probably know the rest. I've been over my head since day one, so whatever. I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Isra shrugged again. "We always have a choice, though sometimes they aren't terribly good ones. But that's the mark of a great Captain; someone that looks for better alternatives and refuses to accept the options they are given. Have you figured it out yet?" Isra smiled again.

Michelle dropped her hands to the desk and rolled her eyes. "You're based out of Romulan space. Or you have assets there" Isra waved her hands, urging Michelle on. "And… a listening post somewhere. No, that wouldn't explain the logs. You would… Oh. OH!" Her eyes got really wide and she whispered "Our ship told you."

Isra grinned and clapped softly. "Yes, there are some things that Intelligence is privy to and we haven't shared with the Federation. Welcome to the club."

Michelle let out a sad laugh. "And there's the catch I was waiting for." Isra smiled and turned the recording device off, then spoke softly into a hand held comm that disappeared back into a pocket somewhere. Moments later a Romulan man walked in, wearing a black leather jacket and casual blue pants. He carried in a tray with two glasses and a bottle of blue liquid, leaving it on the desk near Isra.

She thanked him quietly and turned back to Michelle. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me. The rest of our conversation is off the record and after hours, by the way. Can I interest you in some Kali-fal? The quality has really improved since the Republic settled on Mol'Rihan." Michelle swallowed nervously and nodded her agreement.


End file.
